UFC 147 Results: Why It Made Us Look Forward to UFC 148

No one, including Rich Franklin's parents, was looking forward to UFC 147. It was simply a lackluster card with no spice or depth.

The fight card's roster found itself filled with prospects many of us have never heard of before, with names such as Hacran Dias, Godofredo Pepey, Rony Bezerra, Sergio Moraes, and Cezar Ferriera.

You might ask yourself, "who are these guys?" My point has already been made.

Nonetheless, somehow, someway, UFC 147 and its roster managed to deliver in an unexpected way. While the total buys were certainly down from past events, those who tuned into Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva saw a night full of action and upsets.

UFC 147 came at just the right time despite its mediocrity. In fact, the fight card compares to UFC 139 where the world saw arguably the greatest fight in UFC history as Dan Henderson and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua battled it out in five grueling rounds. UFC 147 is compared to UFC 139 in the sense that many were not excited for it.

In approach to UFC 139, fans looked ahead to the most anticipated bout of the year where Brock Lesnar would meet Alistair Overeem at 2011's last event and seemingly turned a shoulder to Henderson vs. Rua.

But UFC 139 delivered, as did UFC 147 in ways we never thought it would.

While UFC 147 certainly won't be remembered as an all time great by any stretch of the imagination, it provided a spark plug for things to come.

On July 7, the world will get to witness the most anticipated rematch in UFC history when current UFC middleweight Anderson Silva meets his heated rival, Chael Sonnen in a 185-pound showdown at UFC 148.

Tito Ortiz will also say farewell to a long-lived career when he meets Forrest Griffin for a third time.

While many of us already had our sights set on UFC 148, UFC 147 did the unexpected and gave us all an appetizer for what's to come.